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🇯🇵 City · Japan
Osaka: Japan's kitchen lit in neon
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Japan's second great metropolis, Osaka is famed for its food and easygoing atmosphere. The Dotonbori district, strung along its canal, is alive with neon signs, restaurants and izakayas, especially dazzling after dark. Next door, Namba buzzes with street food and nightlife and serves as a major transport hub toward the south. To the north, Umeda is the city's more polished face, wrapped around the huge Osaka Station, with department stores, offices and rooftop bars. Further south, Shinsekai keeps a retro charm around the Tsutenkaku tower. Highlights include tasting takoyaki and okonomiyaki, photographing the Glico running man, visiting Osaka Castle and wandering Kuromon Market, nicknamed Osaka's Kitchen.
Ridley Scott set “Black Rain” (1989), with Michael Douglas, amid the neon of the Ebisubashi bridge in Dotonbori.
Nicknamed “the nation's kitchen”, Osaka hosted from 1730 the Dojima Rice Exchange, the world's first officially licensed futures market.
In Shinsekai, Janjan Yokocho alley serves fried kushikatsu under Tsutenkaku Tower: dip your skewer in the shared sauce only once.
Spring (March-April, cherry blossom) and autumn (October-November, foliage) are the ideal seasons; summer is hot and humid. To get around, the subway is very handy: the Midosuji line links Umeda, Shinsaibashi, Namba and Tennoji in minutes, and four of the central neighbourhoods are even within walking distance of each other. One tip: pick up a rechargeable IC card (ICOCA) to glide through public transport. On connectivity, mobile coverage is excellent and very fast across the city, even underground; free wifi is widespread in stations, cafés, hotels and malls, making trips easy to plan on the go.